Columbia Admission

Hello--

There are many factors that go into business school admissions.... your academics (including prior grades, school, and GMAT scores); your professional and life experiences; leadership experience and potential; your personal strengths and passions; volunteering/extracurricular involvement; your overall story (shown in your essays) of WHY you want the degree and what you'll do with it (and what you'll bring to the program); your recommendations (what others say about you); whether you show a fit with the school; etc etc.

Many of those points I do not know much about at this point in time so hard to fully assess. In general yes it can be challenging for Indian IT and engineering applicants to b-schools since there are SO many, and in many cases the scores and stats and work experience sound similar. So it's quite competitive and yes top 5-10 or so ranked schools in particular will be a reach in most cases. And sure IIT can be a plus, but obviously not something you can change now.

Having higher than average GMAT scores and grades can help; any way in which you differentiate from your peers (with similar backgrounds) can help; volunteering and involvement can help; sharing a clear and compelling vision of why and how you'll use the MBA can help.... and at the end of the day it can be fairly subjective as the admissions committee assesses how you stack up against your peers in all of the ways mentioned.

Even if a school is a 'reach', it is sometimes still worth applying to, especially if you feel you'd regret NOT applying... so do your research, get to know the school well so you can really demonstrate that 'fit' with the program. But for best chances of getting in somewhere, it can also be good to apply to a few schools with different levels of competitiveness to see what happens and have the best chances.

Good luck to you!